Chicken has swollen crop and seems weak - plz help

[oliver kerslake]

Hi guys,
We have a Silver Sussex bantam hen who's just under a year old and over the past week she has been pretty off - she is much less curious and forages a lot less, and doesn't seem to get excited or compete with the others when we get food out - I also think she isn't eating as much but I find it quite hard to judge. She had been broody, but suddenly stopped after a few days, and was doing very watery droppings, which I originally thought was due to the hot weather we were having.

However, over the past few days I've noticed that her crop seems very full, even fairly early in the morning, and I'm worried that she might be losing weight. I was thinking she had an impacted crop, but it feels full and firm and not that hard - its definitely a little squishy and I don't think its sour crop either. She also seems quite weak - if I pick her up to check her over and put her back down, it sometimes seems like her legs give way.

We were thinking maybe it was something to do with worms but honestly I have no idea what is really going on and because of corona its a little tricky getting hold of medication and we haven't given any proper treatment as of yet. One of the others is completely fine, and although the other behaves normally, she isn't laying at the moment and does very runny droppings, but I don't know if that's related but it doesn't seem nearly as urgent.

Basically I don't rly know what to do and could do with some advice.

 

[azygous]

Sounds like sour crop. It doesn't always smell. In fact, most of the time it doesn't smell. Miconazole is the med you want to use and it's at Walmart in the women's hygiene products. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[oliver kerslake]

Thanks - that looks really helpful I'll give it a go

Just in case things don't get better after using that, do you think there are any other things it could possibly be, or is sour crop the only realistic option??

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC. Is a vet an option?

 

[Waves]

please check very carefully for mites/lices
under the wings, near the vent, on the neck...
they are small little bugs and can be of different colours
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/7-natural-ways-to-treat-chicken-mites-and-stop-them-returning/

let us know!!

 

[oliver kerslake]

Welcome to BYC. Is a vet an option?

Not realistically - the vets close by have been pretty up front about not knowing too much about chickens

 

[oliver kerslake]

please check very carefully for mites/lices
under the wings, near the vent, on the neck...
they are small little bugs and can be of different colours
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/7-natural-ways-to-treat-chicken-mites-and-stop-them-returning/

let us know!!

Had a look at this yesterday - they got lice about a month ago, which we cleared up using DE powder, but ive checked her and the others over and I can't spot anything.

 

[oliver kerslake]

We have some miconazole cream that we are going to use, but we can't figure out how to get her to eat it - any pointers?? Fingers crossed it works out

 

[Waves]

I think you could try mixing it with some food,
Or if she doesn't want it maybe you can try to open her mouth CAREFULLY and put some cream in the mouth without pushing it in the throat

Lets see what others are going to say!

 

[oliver kerslake]

I think you could try mixing it with some food,
Or if she doesn't want it maybe you can try to open her mouth CAREFULLY and put some cream in the mouth without pushing it in the throat

Lets see what others are going to say!

We used a syringe to put about 2mls in her mouth which she then swallowed which is good. She's pretty much gone off food now which isn't so good, so hopefully this works